IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 12 October
12-10-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Maths Week gets underway | NaviNet to create Belfast jobs
The Irish Times reports on Maths Week, an annual all-Ireland event that aims to help people of all ages grasp a greater understanding of mathematics. Dozens of free public events will take place across the country until 17 October. There are shows for primary and secondary students, but also for adults. Maths Week encourages students to consider doing higher-level maths, Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe said at the launch of the event. More details are available at www.mathsweek.ie.
The paper also reports that NaviNet, a US web-based healthcare communications group, plans to invest STG4.4 million in a new research and development centre in Belfast that will create 60 jobs. Northern Ireland Economy Minister Arlene Foster will announce details of the investment on Monday, to coincide with the visit of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. NaviNet's decision to set up a new software development centre in Belfast marks the first major expansion for the Boston-based group outside of the US. The group delivers a secure online link between more than 800,000 healthcare providers and their patients, industry partners and health insurers.
In more investment news, the same paper says that billionaire George Soros has said he will invest USD1 billion in clean-energy technology and create an organisation to advise policy makers on environmental issues. Soros, the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management, announced the investment in Copenhagen on Saturday at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate.
According to the Financial Times, Dutch conglomerate Philips Electronics has posted a better-than-expected third-quarter operating profit, thanks to cost reductions. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation soared to EUR344 million from EUR57 million in the year-ago quarter, beating the average analyst forecast of EUR109 million. However, the company remained cautious, seeing no recovery in many of its markets. "While encouraged by the positive development in sales and profitability during the third quarter, we remain cautious about the short-term outlook in the absence of structural recovery in the majority of our end-markets," the company said.
The paper also says that British Sky Broadcasting is set to launch Sky Songs, a digital music service designed to compete with iTunes and Spotify. The broadcaster has agreed deals with the music labels EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal and Warner Music, as well as a number of independent labels, to access their back catalogues and new releases. Sky Songs offers users unlimited streaming, plus download-to-own tracks and albums, from STG6.49 a month. Customers can also purchase additional music on a per-track or per-album basis. BSkyB is hoping that users will find the monthly subscription model more attractive than iTunes, which has a track-by-track purchasing system.
The Wall Street Journal says that Deutsche Lufthansa is on Monday expected to reveal plans to provide long-distance air passengers with the most extensive array of mobile and internet services available on any airline, according to sources. In partnership with Japanese electronics firm Panasonic, these people said, the German carrier's goal is to allow passengers on international flights not only to make calls and send e-mails, but also to surf the web and download videos at faster speeds than currently possible.
The paper also reports that the US Federal Communications Commission has opened an inquiry into whether Google's phone-management service is restricting calls. Google Voice allows people to link all of their phones to a common number and to manage calls and messages through a single website. The service can also be used to send and receive phone calls and text messages. Google has reserved the right to restrict outgoing calls to some phone numbers, including adult chat lines and conference-call centres, which charge higher access fees to telecoms operators. In a letter to the internet company, the FCC asked how Google Voice identifies phone numbers that are restricted and how it notifies customers of those restrictions. The FCC asked Google to explain how Google Voice fits within current telecommunications law and whether the service competes with other telecommunications services.
The Sunday Business Post says that Dublin-based software start-up Lucey Technology has raised about EUR1 million in funding. The company has developed online business applications aimed at small and medium sized enterprises and uses Software as a Service to deliver the tools. Under the model, customers are charged a monthly fee according to how many users they have and the service level they require. The services include online payments, instant messaging and videoconferencing, and the software has been developed using Microsoft’s SharePoint platform.
The same paper reports that Imagine and subsidiary Irish Broadband will unveil Wimax this week, a new broadband network that will offer wireless internet technology at initial speeds of up to 8 megabits per second. Speeds could reach as high as 30 megabits per second. The technology differs from standard Wi-Fi as the signal can be received up to five kilometres away from the transmitter. The service will need a dongle to work, although new Intel-based laptops from early next year will work with the new technology once a subscription is in place.
The paper also writes that users of Google Wave are being left baffled by the service. The collaborative service allows users to create a "wave" using a panel in which text or images can be pasted, and users are then asked to join the discussion. However, it seems that users are not notified by e-mail or text that they have been included in the discussion, so the service needs to be kept running in the background at all times. Another downfall appears to be a lack of automatic synchronisation with Facebook and other popular social networking websites. Users have also complained it is difficult to find other users with Wave accounts, and it is not always clear when users are available for collaborative working or chat. The service is still in beta mode, however, and has not yet been released to the public.
The Sunday Times says that Twitter is to allow users another way to answer the question “what are you doing now?” by including the ability to post live videos from laptops, phones and other devices. The social networking service, which has 54 million users worldwide a month, currently only offers the chance to update a status message in 140 characters or less.
The same paper writes that a leading British military charity has called for donors to avoid using websites that charge commission on pledges. Help for Heroes, which raises money to help wounded soldiers, called for people to turn their backs on Justgiving.com, which charges a 5 percent commission of each donation, and to use sites that don’t charge, such as Bmycharity.com. Justgiving made a STG2.3 million profit last year, and paid 57 employees an average salary of STG68,000, which is more than twice the national average in Britain. However, the site has also raised STG527 million for 8,100 charities and is credited with transforming grassroots fundraising since its 2001 launch. The website takes its 5 per cent fee from tax relief known as gift aid that charities claim back on individual donations. Justgiving says it reinvests profits to improve its performance.
The paper also reports that Digiweb could be the one to rescue troubled firm Smart Telecom. The company may receive an investment from Digiweb as part of a deal that could see a writedown for Smart bondholders of 25 percent to 30 percent. Both Digiweb and Magnet Networks have been in talks with Smart’s examiner, who was appointed in July, but Digiweb is thought to be the front runner in a rescue deal.
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